


Meeting The Pieces

by bokuakabeam



Series: The Hummingbird Institute [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-23
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:02:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24885046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bokuakabeam/pseuds/bokuakabeam
Summary: "He’s real nice, but he’s kind of…” Daichi trailed off, tapping a finger to his chin in thought. “I really don’t know how to describe him, but I think you’ll like him.”“That’s not a very big vote of confidence for the guy,” Tsukishima mumbled, but Daichi just laughed and shrugged his shoulders.“Trust me, if he was really that bad of a guy, I’d have had him fired a long time ago.”
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou/Kuroo Tetsurou/Tsukishima Kei, Kuroo Tetsurou/Tsukishima Kei
Series: The Hummingbird Institute [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1800685
Comments: 2
Kudos: 67





	Meeting The Pieces

_Hummingbirds get their name from the humming noise that their wings make as they beat so fast._

━━━━━━

Tsukishima straightened his suit jacket and adjusted his tie, his nerves only showing in the shaking of his hands. He needed to calm down. It wasn’t professional to be nervous, and if his hands shook when speaking to his management team or to, god forbid, patrons at the museum, he didn’t think he could ever show his face at the Hummingbird Institute ever again. The soft hum of the fluorescent lights high up on the ceiling was the only sound aside from the clack of heels on linoleum, each of the quiet sounds magnifying, echoing in the large building. Desperately attempting to still his shivering appendages, Tsukishima cleared his throat and his mind. Focus and relax, focus and relax; a mantra he had been telling himself since his freshman year at university.

The Hummingbird Institute — or the H.I. to the locals and frequent visitors — was a very prestigious museum, specializing in showcasing only the best exhibits and most beautiful pieces of art that they could acquire. Tsukishima had found himself lucky enough to earn himself a job in the museum’s paleontology department fresh out of college, even if he was just an on-call paleontologist until he earned his master’s degree. The position he had vied for was a prominent one, and there was a point during the interview process where Tsukishima had been on the verge of abandoning his dream. He couldn’t fathom how anybody from the management team, after witnessing his lack of social skills and subpar resume, would deem him an acceptable hire. Nonetheless, he stuck out to the interviewers — in what ways, he had no clue — and he was called back to start orientation not two days after his intensive interview.

And now here Tsukishima stood, nearly one week of experience in his new position, and he was finally called into action. One of the duties about being a paleontologist for a museum was to come in to inspect and investigate items that had been collected to determine things such as age or type of species. It was arguably one of the things Tsukishima loved the most about the position, aside from actually going out on digs and discovering new things on his own. However, with his lack of a master’s degree, he was unable to become a full-time paleontologist for H.I., so this was considered an on-call position. This provided him with the flexible hours he desperately needed in order to attend school, as well as money he needed to, well… survive. So with his suit finally adjusted, and his hands now in a reasonably-still state, Tsukishima proceeded forward further into the museum.

The day went by much quicker than Tsukishima had anticipated, but disappointingly, his office wasn’t what was expected either. For H.I. being a prestigious museum with an overwhelming amount of prosperous sponsors, the offices for himself and his coworkers were mediocre, at best. Not one to let such trivial things hinder his mindset, however, Tsukishima had done his best to still the insistent and overzealous beating of his heart — _focus and relax_ — and felt a sense of pride warm his chest when he’d nearly completed his shift for the day. Excitement still hummed underneath his skin, his fingertips still tingling at being able to actually _touch_ things that had survived centuries; he was actually able to hold, to touch items that real, experienced paleontologists, his idols (for lack of a better word), had dug up and sent into the museum. _His_ museum.

“Hey.” The dayshift manager pulled him out of his reverie, calling Tsukishima to attention at the back of the room.

“Yes, sir?” Tsukishima nervously fiddled with his fingers, trying once again to hide the tremors that wracked through his hands. Once he began working, he seemed to subconsciously calm down, especially since the type of work that was expected of him today was something he was extremely familiar with; however, when he was required to interact with people he wasn’t used to, his nerves returned tenfold.

“Oh, Tsukishima, just Daichi is fine. No need for ‘sir’ in here,” Daichi grinned, the corners of his eyes crinkling slightly as his smile spread throughout his features.

“Oh, of course. Yes, Daichi?” His nerves calmed slightly, and in lieu of continuing to fidget, Tsukishima clasped his hands together in front of him. He trained all his attention on his manager, and kept his face plain and serious.

“So our PR guy is coming in — he’s a real nice guy, try not to worry too much about meeting him — and he wants to set up a few promotional shots with our new artifacts and stuff. I dunno all the lingo, if I’m being honest, he’ll explain all of that to you once he’s here. But the only reason I’m telling you this instead of handling it myself is that I actually have to run to pick up a few things and run a few errands before the museum closes for the night. Do you think you can handle the PR shit for the afternoon?”

“Oh, yeah, sure,” Tsukishima nodded once, trying to hide his unease behind a mask of assurance. “Is there anything else I should know before he gets here? I’ve never handled public relations before, so I’m kind of going in blind here.”

“Nah, like I said he’ll explain everything to you. He’s real nice, but he’s kind of…” Daichi trailed off, tapping a finger to his chin in thought. “I really don’t know how to describe him, but I think you’ll like him.”

“That’s not a very big vote of confidence for the guy,” Tsukishima mumbled, but Daichi just laughed and shrugged his shoulders.

“Trust me, if he was really that bad of a guy, I’d have had him fired a long time ago.”

Before Tsukishima could ask any more questions, the door to their back office flung open, causing papers to fly off the tables in a whirlwind of activity. Tsukishima quickly darted forward, gathering up their notes before they could get too out of order, shuffling them together in a haphazard attempt at straightening them into a pile.

“Ah, shit, sorry,” the stranger apologized, bending forward to help with one hand while the other gripped his own clipboard to his chest. “People tell me that I tend to _whip_ doors open and that apparently wreaks havoc, but I mean, I like to make an entrance.” Tsukishima looked up and was met with a cheshire cat-like grin and hazel eyes that met his own. “Oh! You’re new.”

“Y-Yeah, I am,” the blond nodded, gathering the last of the fallen papers and straightening out to his full height. The newcomer was slightly shorter than him, but his build was much thicker than his own. His jawline was more defined and his torso was slim, giving him a chiseled look compared to Tsukishima’s lean body type.

“Ah, nice to meet you, Newbie! The name’s Kuroo Tetsurou, I’m the public relations officer for the H.I. — which basically means I handle press releases and all that good shit.”

“Basically, he’s a people person,” Daichi spoke up behind them, already shrugging on his jacket. Tsukishima couldn’t help but notice the man’s amused expression as Kuroo flitted around the room taking in his surroundings.

“Look at all this old stuff!” Kuroo exclaimed, lifting up a fossil Tsukishima had been studying earlier and peering at it. “Yep, you can definitely tell that this is old.”

Daichi snorted with a slap to Kuroo’s shoulder. “Don’t try and dumb yourself down for Tsukishima here, he’s as bright as they come.”

Tsukishima felt his cheeks heat up and he looked away from the two men, pretending to read something on the papers he still held in his grasp. He couldn’t make out the rest of their hushed conversation, so he instead decided to move back to his desk to shuffle through the papers instead of standing awkwardly in the middle of the room.

“See you later, Tsukishima!” Daichi called out after a few minutes, giving a short wave to the blond before he departed for the day.

“So, Newbie, how you likin’ it so far?” Kuroo spoke up as soon as the door shut behind Daichi, and Tsukishima spun in his chair to face the raven-haired man.

“I like it just fine so far, I suppose. It’s my first official day, so I guess I can’t really have a formal opinion yet.”

“You can always have an opinion, Newbie,” Kuroo grinned, still closely inspecting the artifacts that were spread out on the main table in the center of the room. “How old are you anyway?”

“Why?” Tsukishima shot back, feeling his mental walls strengthen at the more personal question.

“What, I can’t be curious? We’re gonna be working together quite a bit, I think, so why can’t I get to know a new friend?”

“Who says we’re going to be friends?”

“Who says we’re not?” Kuroo provoked, but his easy smile never wavered. He held his head propped up on his fist as he leaned over the table, keeping his eyes trained on Tsukishima. “Daichi wasn’t lying when he said I was a people person. I can get even the coldest, bitchiest person to be my friend.”

“Oh, is that a challenge?” Tsukishima let himself smile slightly, cocking an eyebrow in Kuroo’s direction.

“Oho, do you want to make it a challenge? Alright, let’s see. I give you… a month.”

“A month for what?”

“A month before you’re _begging_ to be my friend. Maybe more than friends, who knows,” Kuroo stuck the tip of his tongue out of the corner of his mouth cheekily, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

“I’ve never begged for anything in my life. You’re on,” Tsukishima grinned competitively.

“Ah, but you see Tsukki dear, I’m already winning. Just by agreeing to this challenge, you’ve already lost. You can’t give me any semblance of friendship, or you’re done for!” Kuroo spoke dramatically, his eyes lighting up when he heard Tsukishima snort out a laugh.

“What the fuck was that?” Tsukishima asked after a moment, taking a breather from his stifled laughter.

“What?”

“That name you called me? How’d you know that was my nickname?”

“I didn’t,” Kuroo’s grin impossibly widened, and his eyes shimmered with interest. “I guess we were meant to be friends then, huh, Tsukki?”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever Bedhead,” Tsukishima spun his chair back around towards his desk, going through his notes once again, hiding a smile behind his hand as Kuroo sputtered behind him.

“Tsukki! You wound me! This is a hair _style_ , I’ll have you know—“

  
“Yeah? And who styled it, rats?”

“W-Well, I never—!”

“You sound like a ninety year old woman!” Tsukishima bursted out laughing, effectively silencing Kuroo as the peals of his laughter echoed in the fairly small back office. As his laugh died down, Tsukishima felt himself blush at the still quiet of the office, finally dragging his eyes to look back at Kuroo. The PR officer was frozen in place, mouth slightly agape as he took in Tsukishima. “Wh-what?”

“Er,” Kuroo seemed to have been pulled out of his own head, shaking it slightly before plastering on his smirk. “Nothing, you just… I like your laugh.”

“Shut up,” Tsukishima murmured, his blush further reddening his cheeks. “So tell me what we need to do today.”

“Ah, well. Let’s see. Usually I have our graphic designer guy here to take the pictures, but he had another gig today. Why he needed the pictures _today_ I have no clue,” Kuroo grumbled the last sentence more to himself rather than to Tsukishima as he pulled out a professional-looking camera. “But seeing as he can’t come today, he asked me to try my hand at some shots.”

  
“Okay, what can I do to help?” Tsukishima asked, standing up and walking to stand opposite Kuroo.

“Just help me set up these artifacts here while I get the lighting… Better.”

  
Tsukishima snorted, carefully adjusting the items on the table. “You don’t know shit about photography, do you?”

“No!” Kuroo exclaimed, whirling around to face Tsukishima again, his eyes wide and desperate. “I can handle press conferences, I can handle business meetings, and I can handle promos and marketing; but photography? No fucking way.”

  
“Let me give you a tip—“

“Oh, thank God, Tsukki, thank you—“

  
“You hold the camera up to your face, look through the little hole, and click the button.”

“… I hate you.”

And if Tsukishima laughed more that afternoon working with Kuroo, trying to figure out the different setting on the camera and teasing the PR officer mercilessly, then nobody needed to know that. And if Kuroo kept quiet during those moments just to listen to the soft hum of Tsukishima's barely-stifled laugh the only sound filling the office, nobody needed to know that either. 


End file.
